A Review of Explore/Plan by ACT Advantage

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Jordan, my oldest who is currently 13, took the Explore test offered by ACT. We previosly reviewed the Discover program and worked on making a plan for Jordan's future. The Explore test was another step in working towards that goal.
Explore is the first part of a testing system that goes on to include Planand the ACT.

The Explore/Plan tests sell for $22.95 each.
Typically, students take Explore in the 8th or 9th grade, Plan as 10th graders, and the ACT as juniors or seniors. As a member of the Crew, we received both Explore and Plan Sample Tests, but I only had him take the Explore.
All three test you in English, math, reading, and science. However, the material tested in each program gets more difficult. Hence, why we stuck with the Explore.
There are 4 parts to the test:

English

Math

Reading

Science

1. The English Test measures your understanding of standard written English—punctuation, grammar and usage, and sentence structure (Usage/Mechanics)—and your understanding of the use of strategy, organization, and style in writing (Rhetorical Skills).
You receive a total score for the English test and separate scores (called "subscores") for Usage/Mechanics and Rhetorical Skills.
Sample English Test Items
2. The Math Testmeasures your mathematical reasoning. The test focuses on your ability to reason in math rather than on how well you have memorized formulas or can do involved computations.
Questions on the test cover four areas—knowledge and skills, direct application, understanding concepts, and integrating your understanding of concepts—in pre-algebra, elementary algebra, geometry, and statistics and probability.
Sample Math Test Items
3. The Reading Test measures your ability to understand written material from different school subjects. The skills measured include referring to details in the passage, drawing conclusions, and making comparisons and generalizations.
Sample Reading Test Items
4. The Science Test measures your scientific reasoning skills and your ability to understand scientific information and draw conclusions from it. Six sets of scientific information are presented in one of three formats: data representation (graphs, tables, and other forms), research summaries (descriptions of several related experiments), or conflicting viewpoints (two or more hypotheses that are inconsistent with one another).
Materials for this test are drawn from the life sciences, Earth/space sciences (e.g., geology, astronomy, and meteorology), and physical sciences. The test emphasizes your scientific reasoning skills rather than how well you can recall scientific facts, or your skills in mathematics or in reading

Scoring:

The Explore Student Score Report gives information about your knowledge, skills, interests, and plans. You can then use this information as you plan your high school coursework and begin thinking about college and work.
Your report also tells you how you did on the tests and how your scores compare to those of other students across the nation. It contains information about your educational and career plans, interests, high school coursework plans, and the amount of help you think you need in seven areas.
Your scores can then be used to predict how you are likely to do if you take PLAN as a tenth grader.
You can then use these predicted or estimated scores to see if you are on track to achieve the scores you want when you take the ACT later in high school.

I thought the test packet was straight forward, easy to implement and simple to score and understand. I have been wanting a test that I could give at home to access development and this fit the bill.